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Brazilians to table Corus offer

BRAZILIAN steelmaker CSN is set to table a formal offer for Corus this week, a move that may trigger a multinational, multi-billion-pound bidding war for the Anglo-Dutch group.

Directors of Corus, which includes the remains of British Steel and employs 23,000 in Britain, are expected to meet today to review the CSN bid. They have already recommended an earlier offer from Tata Steel, India’s biggest steelmaker, but are likely to withdraw their support in favour of a higher bid from CSN.

The Brazilians have said their offer is likely to be pitched at 475p a share, a level that values Corus at £5.1 billion once debt is included. Tata’s bid is 455p a share.

The CSN bid may be announced as early as tomorrow if negotiations proceed well over the weekend. But it is unlikely to go ahead without the support of Corus’s pension trustees. The size of the pension